FROM INDULGENCES TO ONLINE WORSHIP: CHURCH LIFE OF MOSCOW CATHOLICS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

© 2020 Nestor MANICHKIN

2019 – №1 (19)


Citation link:

Manichkin N. A. (2020). Ot indul’gencij do onlajn-bogosluzhenija: cerkovnaja zhizn’ moskovskih katolikov vo vremja pandemii COVID-19 [From Indulgence to Online Worship: Church Life of Moscow Catholics during COVID-19 Pandemic]. Medicinskaja antropologija i biojetika [Medical Anthropology and Bioethics], 1 (19).


Author info:

Manichkin Nestor Aleksandrovich, Cand. Hist. Sc., is a Research Fellow at the Center of Medical Anthropology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow).


Keywords: COVID-19, coronavirus, epidemic, pandemic, social distancing, bioethics, Catholicism, Roman Catholic church, Christianity, liturgy, Eucharist, indulgences, rite, religious communities, digitalization

Abstract: The article reviews the impact of social distancing and other epidemic restrictions on the church life of the Catholic community in Moscow, Russia (Archdiocese of Mother of God in Moscow). Open-source materials and interviews with informants indicate that the believers have a contradictory reaction to some changes in the routine and form of ritual praxis. The discourse of church authorities is studied in connection with the spiritual and social toolset of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as in the context of the Panchristian debate generated by the intervention of the new coronavirus into the everyday and church life of believers.


References

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Paulus VI (1967) Constitutio Apostolica Sacrarum Indulgentiarum recognitio promulgatur [Apostolic Constitution on the Recognized Giving of Indulgences], Acta Apostolicae Sedis [Acts of the Holy See], Vol. 59, p. 5-24.

Skola, A., Marengo, G., Prades Lopes, J. (2000) Bogoslovskaja antropologija [Theological anthropology], Moscow: Christian Russia.